A technique for separating a substrate from epitaxial layers is used after growing the epitaxial layers on the substrate. For example, a vertical type gallium nitride-based light emitting diode can be manufactured by growing epitaxial layers including n-type and p-type semiconductor layers on a growth substrate, followed by separating the growth substrate therefrom. A support substrate having higher thermal conductivity than the growth substrate may be attached to the epitaxial layers to improve luminous efficacy.
As such, after the epitaxial layers are grown on the growth substrate, the support substrate independent of the growth substrate is attached to the epitaxial layer by taking operating characteristics into account, and the growth substrate is separated from the epitaxial layers. The growth substrate can be separated from the epitaxial layers using, for example, a laser lift-off process, a chemical lift-off process, or other lift-off processes using thermal stress or mechanical stress. One example of a lift-off technique for separation of the growth substrate is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2012-0094483 A.